Anyone Have DirecTV? Quick Question.....
 

If so, how affected by weather is it? With the current offer (expiring today) I can get a DVR, 3 HD receivers, and save about 66% over my mediocre digital cable package. I like everything about it, but I'm curious how much impact severe weather has on reception.

Only during the most severe rain storms is ours affected.

What I don't like about our new reciever is that there can be a several second delay between when I press the clicker to change channels and the channel changes.

Same here. A few digital artifacts in the heaviest rain and some times it will blip out for a minute or two. Snow and ice can collect on the dish also but they sell dish heaters for areas where it is an issue.

Same here. Very heavy squalls (flash & boomers) take it out for a few minutes.
Very heavy snow (rare around here) will do the trick for longer periods.

The signal goes out when you need to worry about the weather. I kid you not. Not an issue for 99.9% of the time.

I've had DTV for almost 17 years.

Edit: And I get free Sunday Ticket. 49'ers.

As stated, only the heaviest weather should be a problem for a properly pointed dish. If you have more impact, it's probably because your dish is not pointed precisely at the satellite.

Ditto. Only major thunderstorms, or hard rain/snow affect mine.

I've also been using the same antenna for 14 years.

Snow.....broom time, so don't put it up on the roof.

We had DirecTV for 2 years, then switched to AT&T UVerse after that because of unscrupulous business practices on DirecTV's part. We had very few weather-related outages on DirecTV, I just couldn't put up with their business practices...

As has been stated it takes pretty severe weather to knock out the signal. Our problem was with trees effecting the signal, even in mild winds where the branches would briefly block the signal causing sometimes severe pixelation. We eventually dropped satellite TV and went with cable due to the lower cost when including bundled internet.

I've had DTV for 12 years and do not have weather issues but then I live in so cal where it never snows.

Make sure you cancel the credit card you setup the account with......I got charged over 800 bucks due to an error on their part after I moved and the transferred the address info wrong and had the headache of disputing the charge after they said they would issue a refund after 30 days.......I went back to normal cable and never had it cut of from weather again........

Thanks guys. Because of our craptastic KS weather I think I'll hold off for now, we're dropping our current home phone carrier to save over $50/mo.

The weather is not the issue with DTV. Customer Service sucks and as stated above it takes up to 8-9 seconds for the channel to change, horse hockey :mad: . Sometimes the damn thing doesn't change at all. It's slooooooow. What really ticks me off is it wasn't like that originally. I'm sure they've crapped it up on purpose for better profits. The only reason i keep it is so I can watch the Steelers. If it wasn't for that I'd have dumped these guys years ago.

There is a selection for the wait time to change stations. Set it to the lowest one of 2 seconds. I have had Direct TV for years. Only had to send an email to the president of the company once. Customer Service made the mistake of telling my wife we wouldn't ever get a DVR. Wrong answer. She had a telephone call from the presidents office right quick and in a hurry. Two guys showed up the next day to do the install, etc, etc. I like my Direct TV and love the DVR.
When the signal goes out because of rain, you should be paying attention to the weather. Doesn;t happen often or for very long.

I had DTV for a year and loved it then the signal started dropping every time a storm cloud would drift by... I had them come out and guy could not find nor fix problem

I got so frustrated I switched to Verizon Fios and love it

DTV now calls me bout four times a month to come back (on my cell) even though I have told them several times to take me off the list

I got another call couple weeks ago, after goin off on the guy that called I asked to speak to a supervisor and gave her a piece of my mind....Hopefully that will solve the problem

I will never do business with that company in the future

DirecTV is worse than Scientology when you try to cancel the service... not that I've been a Scientologist....

The delay time for my DTV function selections is painfully slow - unlike the past.
Where would one find the info/buttons to speed it up?
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Also, speaking of bus. practices - you have to buy the rec'r up front, then when you close out your acct., you're expected to send the rec'r back to them because they claim it's not really yours...and if you don't you'll never again get DTV service.
A great product but fk'd business policy.

Being a low level techie...
 

would you tell me the economics of satellite dish vs. cable? My father in laws cable bill jumped from $30 Can to $100 because it has gone digital basis. He did not get the digital box but we may have to. In our house we have 3 tvs and we have cable . If you have 3 tvs then do you need a special box for each tv if you have satellite? What would be the cost of 3 tvs in your house and each tv has a separate channel on? Obviously there would be install cost but what would be the rental cost per month? Any cost saving in my house going satellite? Of course different charges depend on number of channels received. Any basic principles here on cost saving?

yes you would need a box for each TV in the house

as far as cost you should go online their website will give you cost per month there are a million different plans to choose from

Im sure no matter what you choose it will be more the $100 but you will get more channels

One way to help with the signal strength (and dropping programs) is to get a bigger dish. I used DirectTV years ago and had the internet system built into it. Because of that I got a bigger dish and almost never had a problem with this.

anyone care to share how to do this?

I know its there. 2 or 4 second delay if I remember correctly. Call Direct TV and ask customer service. They should be able to get you to the right place.

Would this be banner time? If so, it can be found under settings/display options/preferences if you have an hd-dvr.

Direct TV
 

It's the only service I would pay for! In the baddest weather it has worked without major issue, you will lose it for a minute (heavy lighting) but it come right back. You need a box per TV, but you get on time any event you order without calling them again and again to get it turned on. Comcast and all the others just don't offer the service, programming and follow up that Direct TV offers day in and out. For my money Direct TV :D is the Best!
art
agrimmitt@pelican

What about DISH:
DISH Satellite TV Packages From $19.99. Ask About HD Free For Life.

Would anyone care to comment about the quality of their service and in particular "business practices", relative to Direct TV?

Direct TV guy here for a loooooong time. Prolly best from the few SAT choice providers. I understand that if you have access to Verizon FIOS (fiber optic) they have an agreement with direct tv for re-broadcast.

Rarely do I ever lose my signal.

'Looks like it...
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Menu > Parental, Fav's, & Setup
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System Setup > Display
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Preferences > Click Select
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Scroll down to: Banner Time
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Boo, mine offers 4, 6, & 8 seconds. No 2 seconds.
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Thanks anyway for the reply & for the tip. ;)

try unplugging the network connection and see if that does not speed things up.

obviously you can leave it that way, but..

Thanks for the info but why the hell would anyone want to sit there & wait 8 friggin' seconds for the damn thing to change, GEEEZ. AND why doesn't customer service know this, (I've mentioned the delay several times.

Mine is already on 4 :mad:

I checked mine the other day. It was on 4 and that's still too long.

But it's not that, so much as the delay from channel to channel. It's agonizingly sloooowwww....

It's actually illegal now to have DTV in Canada ;) You can only watch what the CRTC says you can. It had something to do with Chrétien's son-in-law being the VP of Power Corp (Bell/ExpressViews owners). So any cost comparisons would be a moot point.

DTV tech at neighbor's yesterday...I told him about the complaints (slow-a@@ receivers, etc.) He said he knew nothing about the 4, 6, 8 sec. function, however, DTV has had tons of complaints re: being slow.
He also said that DTV bought TIVO and the new "34" receiver models will have TIVO's goodies inside - meaning faster resonse time.
We shall see. (Arms folded, toes tappin') :confused:
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I you have the $6/mo. "insurance" w/them, any issue w/your present HD DVR rec'r and you get the new "34" model - no charge.
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I remember my first DTV rec'r being lightning fast - because it had TIVO's innards...unlike the present one.

Tech was wrong. DTV did not purchase TIVO. They just started selling the HD version of the equipment last month.

:)